


My friend's friends

by alljustletters



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: F/F, Mindwarp, Peri and the Piscon Paradox, The Warrior Queen, Thoros Beta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-13
Updated: 2013-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-19 08:31:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/881666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alljustletters/pseuds/alljustletters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One thing the Doctor should have realised by now: no matter how much you tell your companions not to wander off, there's a 99 per cent change that they will wander off nonetheless.<br/>As predicted, Ace manages to get herself in trouble. Knocked out and kidnapped, transported to the planet Krontep to serve their Warrior Queen. However, her new mistress isn't at all the savage one would have expected.<br/>Unbeknownst to both of them, the women share a much deeper bond. They both walked those white TARDIS corridors. They both wandered off and got into trouble. One of them was saved. One of them was abandoned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My friend's friends

At least they had found a really pretty place this time, Ace thought as she was treading through the pinkish water, legs of her trousers rolled up and boots in one hand. Though as far as she could see, there seemed to be virtually no intelligent life on … what had the Doctor called it again? Oh, whatever. It probably wasn’t that important, especially since she had no one to talk to about it anyway.  
Just after they had exited the TARDIS, the Doctor had turned to her, looked at her with all seriousness and told her to wait for him. And just like a good girl she had waited - until he was out of sight and she could explore the planet as well. It was his own fault for not taking her with him.  
She really didn’t know why he hadn’t, though. The surroundings were quiet and sweet and boring. For a moment she contemplated to throw a very small explosive at one of those riffs to force this planet into reacting to her. But nah. That would just be childish.  
Then, a lot of things happened very quickly. There was something like a battle scream and, all of a sudden, a group of what looked like wildly dressed humans had managed to lunge out from behind rocks, darting at her. The air seemed to frill and her stomach turned as if some kind of … new layer had placed itself over the scenery. Using her confusion, a pair of hands gripped her and she was violently shoved deeper into the water, then forced to turn her step back to where she had come from. She couldn’t make out the TARDIS and before she had gathered her thoughts enough to fight back or scream, she was whacked over the head with something large and heavy, knocking her flat out.

 

For some reason, the first thing she noticed when she came to was the smell. It wasn’t unpleasant or anything, it just had _changed_. Funny how sometimes the smallest things indicate something important, like the fact that she obviously wasn’t on whatever-the-name-of-that-planet-was-again anymore.  
She sat up, which sent her head spinning like the revolving chamber of a shotgun. With an involuntary groan and blinking furiously, she worked to fight down the nausea so she could examine the room. Apparently, she had been lying on a rather luxurious bed, complete with numerous pillows in different sizes and semi-transparent drapes hanging from the canopy. Well, that was nice for a prison cell. Which probably meant it wasn’t a prison cell at all.  
Still a bit stiff in her movements, she brushed away one of the drapes and flung her legs over the side of the bed. Yep, definitely not a prison cell. Although the walls, floor and ceiling appeared to be made of naked stone, they were adorned with thick carpets and the few other pieces of furniture – a side table, a chair, a hardly filled shelf – seemed to be of dark, polished wood. The scent of rich, flowery perfume hung in the air like the shadow of someone long gone.  
She had just managed to push herself off the bed and take a few steps into the strange room, when the door was opened.  
“Oh great, not again.”  
That wasn’t exactly the reception Ace had expected. Squinting a bit, she made out the woman that had spoken – small, almost fragile, with delicate features, untamed brown curls and a thick American accent. As she entered more fully, she revealed to be wearing a plain cream dress and a thin golden coronet. Ace cocked up an eyebrow. This woman seemed to belong here as much as she did, however, her attire fit in quite well.  
“I’ve told him several times I do not approve of slavery, yet he always sends me new girls.” The brunette mustered her with little compliment. “Where are you from, an Earth colony? Typical! Ever since we came here with that travelling device, King Yrcanos thinks it’s a great idea to hop between planets and kidnap aliens. That’s just _savage_!”  
Her voice made a rather endearing squeaking sound as it rose with frustration and she rushed past Ace to stand at the only window, breathing heavily in an attempt to calm down.  
“I’m sorry,” she said finally and turned to flash a smile. “My name is Peri. I … I’m the queen of Krontep, the planet you have been brought to. My husband, King Yrcanos, he must have intended for you to be a present to me. But I will of course return you to your place of origin. This is just … a terrible misunderstanding.” Peri sighed breathily, then approached her guest. “What is your name?”  
Ace’s forehead was in crinkles. She didn’t exactly know what to make of this strange all-American-girl-turned-Warrior-Queen, but at least she seemed to be sincere.  
“The name’s McShane. Just McShane.” In an attempt to regain her usual composure, she stretched out her hand for Peri to shake it. “So, how come you’re – what was it again? Queen of Krontep? I mean, sorry but you’re obviously American.”  
With a thin smile, Peri took her hand for a short clasp. “Baltimore, to be precise. I left Earth when I had the chance, without a second thought and … a lot of things happened. I was abandoned by my travelling companion; Yrcanos fell in love with me and took me back to his home. Eventually, we married.” She shrugged lightly. “It’s been two years since then. I have a daughter.”  
Ace couldn’t think of anything better to say than “Living the dream, huh?” to which her counterpart sounded a dry laugh that was thick with regret. She moved past her, sitting down on the bed, hands folded neatly in her lap. It made her look like a rather beautiful, perfect little puppet.  
“King Yrcanos is not a bad guy and he cares for me very deeply, but the Krontep society is alarmingly backwards. I am doing my best to support their education. However, the word of a woman, even the Queen, isn’t worth too much. All in all, it’s not exactly what I expected my life to be.”  
How had this turned into a bloody therapy session? Originally, she just wanted to get back to the Doctor. But then again, she felt sorry for this misplaced majesty, this girl that couldn’t be much older than herself, yet carried the weight of a whole world on her shoulders.  
Carefully, she sat down beside Peri and slipped a comforting arm around her frail shoulders. “I see. Look, I couldn’t imagine being confined to a man and a household either. If you used to travel, then it’s even worse, being forced to settle down. But you said you have a device? Couldn’t you just leave, get away from here?”  
“That’s not how it works. I have a responsibility! These people trust and need me. And Yrcanos – he rescued me, he cared for me. I owe him at least that bit of loyalty.” Peri’s body seemed to slump down a bit, leaning ever so slightly into the embrace. She had probably lacked compassion and the chance to talk freely for quite a while. “And apart from that, where should I go? I don’t even know what _year_ this is on Earth! Or how to get there! I have no friends, no family … the only person I _really_ cared for simply left me for dead! No, this is still better than the alternative.”  
By now, Ace was positively stumped. Oh shit, were those tears in the other one’s eyes? Frantically, she started patting the girl’s back. _Please don’t cry, please don’t cry._ She could handle anything but crying women.  
To her great relief, Peri only snuffled audibly and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Then she straightened herself, pushing away a bit while turning to face Ace. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you with my personal problems. I’m sure you’d much rather get back to your company.”  
She waved her free hand in response. “Ah, I’m sure the Professor is coming along well without me for a while.” Her face turned more serious. “Listen, if there’s anything I can do, just say the word.”  
“Why are you so nice to me?”  
Ace shrugged. “Why not?”  
This time, Peri’s laugh was ringing and lovely, with a slight husky rasp to it. The sound managed to make the hair on Ace’s neck stand up. She giggled, for a reason only a very small and well-hidden part of her still concussion-addled brain could understand, and squeezed the other girl’s shoulder. For a moment, they just lingered, leaning against each other, listening to their own breaths and heartbeats. The flowery perfume she had noticed before, Ace observed, radiated from Peri’s hair. It made her slightly dizzy, but not in an unpleasant way.  
She didn’t realise she had closed her eyes until the other one’s lips touched her cheek without a warning, followed by a low “Thank you”. The breath touched her skin and made it tickle. Ace grinned, lids flinging open. Peri’s face was very close and very pretty. It wouldn’t be the first time she had kissed a girl, would it? And there was this certain kind of loneliness hanging in her counterpart’s eyes that she just wished to brush away.  
The kiss she finally brought herself to plant on Peri’s mouth was firm and short and extremely awkward, with her hands on both sides of the girl’s face as if she were planning to rip off her head. They stared at each other for what felt like a minute while an unspoken “dammit” hung between them. Finally, Peri shrugged as if to say “what bad could it do?” and leant forward, eyes closed, found Ace’s lips slightly parted and thus first touched the bottom one, then both, then lightly sucked in the other one’s breath, then let the tip of her tongue only just occupy the small gap before pushing away with a grin.  
Ace swallowed audibly. The blush that crept up her neck didn’t exactly do wonders to her usual tough image. Bloody hell, this wasn’t the first extremely pretty girl she had met on her travels with the Doctor, but they seldom had the time to chat, let alone get any closer than that. She wasn’t exactly _experienced_. But then again, Peri didn’t seem to expect that from her. And she probably wasn’t any more experienced than her, not with women, not on a planet like this.  
She came to a decision by pushing the other one down on that bed. Yeah, that was a start. A bit clumsily, she pulled her legs up and crawled onto hands and knees to hover over the brunette. Peri giggle, but was cut short by a kiss. This time, they seemed to melt into each other, heads and upper body moving along with their quickening breaths, until Ace broke free to kiss and suck and bite the soft white flesh of the girl’s neck only to finally educe from her a moan.  
From thereon, things sped up quite rapidly. At first, she was trying to free Peri of her dress, but the complicated lacing had her give up half way. Oh well then, this had to do. At least she could place a few almost helpless kisses on the skin between her breasts, causing her chest to heave frantically with the increase of her breathing rate. Pleased with the effect, Ace skidded down, kneeling between the other ones legs and letting her hands slip under the skirt of her dress. Her fingertips brushed softly against Peri’s legs, making her shiver delicately as they wandered up towards her thighs, her hips. One energetic pull and the little lacy something one could never properly call pants came off. Ace could feel the nervous beat of her own heart in her throat and the racing pulse of the other one beneath her hands as she bent down to trace the way her fingers had just described with the tip of her tongue. A whine escaped Peri. It sounded almost pleading.  
_Okay, time for business, McShane. No more dicking around._  
It wasn’t exactly her field of expertise, but she seemed to be doing rather well, Ace mused as her lips found the small V of hair, carefully planted a few experimental kisses on the moisture and when the body below her reacted by twitching up, she allowed her tongue to make way, part the lips, circle the flesh. Peri’s legs had started trembling; there was the sound of fabric being crumpled, of fingernails on the sheet. A grin exposed Ace’s teeth and she bit down playfully, very softly, sending a new tremor through the other one’s body. Faster, heavier breathing filled the room until it collapsed into a half-muffled scream, both of the girls slumping into each other with exhausted tittering.  
“So, ‘Just McShane.” Peri’s voice sounded darker than before. “I’ll arrange for you to get back now.”  


She was leaning against the door of the TARDIS with an expression of utter boredom on her face as the Doctor marched closer. His eyebrows were raised from the very moment he saw her.  
“And? What have you been up to while I was away?”  
Ace flashed him a perfectly innocent smile. “Nothing, Professor. I waited, just as you told me. I’m a good girl.”


End file.
